sdesc based on cloak (not hood)

[nauta]

So, I was thinking.  Here's the idea:

If a character is one room away, their sdesc will be based on their cloak, and not a mask/facewrap, and  also regardless of hood being up.

My idea stems from my times among the Sun Runners, where I'd be running around with a bright pink cloak on, but nobody would notice, unless I had my hood up.  This would be useful for all sorts of clans: Salarri/Kadian/Kuraci cloaks, for instance.

So, the proposal, in a little more detail:

1. In the same room: the blue-eyed brunette is here.
2. In the same room, with hood up: the short figure in an oil-decorated cloak is here.
3. One room away (even with the hood down): the short figure in an oil-decorated cloak is here (even if the hood is down).

Obviously, a low priority thing -- but I'm curious if there are situations where this would be a problem for playability -- cloaks with hoods up already create a lot of confusion.  (I thought, for instance, of limiting this to just cases outside the city gates.)

[Hauwke]

I think while it does add a level of realism, since the rooms IG are supposed to be quite large. It would just make some things confusing, eg archery being the main one I can think of. Would you still be tagged as your name and otherkeywords then?

It is a cool idea but it could definately use some more thought I think.

[BadSkeelz]

1. In the same room: the blue-eyed brunette is here.
2. In the same room, with hood up: the short figure in an oil-decorated cloak is here.
3. One room away (even with the hood down): the short figure in an oil-decorated cloak is here (even if the hood is down).

A benefit to this model is it could provide a workaround to the "Hood Spam" problem, where it becomes difficult to tell who is who in a group of hooded figures, even within that group's room. There's a lot more variation in sdesc-obscuring facewear. A group wishing to obscure their identities could all choose unique facewear, while still relying on their cloaks for anonymity-in-numbers at a distance.

I would like it if sdesc became increasingly vague over a distance. At "far" you should just get a general sense of height and color of clothes, or something.

[Jihelu]

If at longer distances you saw "The tall-whatever figure is wearing a blank cloak" or if they have no raised hood "The tall obese/whatever figure stands here" I'd be fine with that.


Though I like the hood idea as well.

[evilcabbage]

I think while it does add a level of realism, since the rooms IG are supposed to be quite large. It would just make some things confusing, eg archery being the main one I can think of. Would you still be tagged as your name and otherkeywords then?

It is a cool idea but it could definately use some more thought I think.

you should only be able to use visible keywords to shoot people from a distant room.

take that, shoot kadian.merchant e!

[Hauwke]

Only if with that addition we get a fancy thing to auto loot rich Kadian merchants.

[WanderingOoze]

I support this mess

I think while it does add a level of realism, since the rooms IG are supposed to be quite large. It would just make some things confusing, eg archery being the main one I can think of. Would you still be tagged as your name and otherkeywords then?

It is a cool idea but it could definately use some more thought I think.

you should only be able to use visible keywords to shoot people from a distant room.

take that, shoot kadian.merchant e!

I Support this message.

[Delirium]

It's always a bit annoying when you see:

>l e
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall figure in a blue cloak is here.
The thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The short figure in a blue cloak is here.

The doofy guy steadies themselves and takes aim...

The doofy guy unerringly shoots the right person in the middle of all those cloaked riders.

Then again, a cloak is a cloak is a cloak, hard to tell whether they've got a facewrap on, or the same armor they usually wear, etc, etc. If they always wear hot pink leggings, you're gonna know it's them (or think it's them) regardless of whether they've got their hood up. So it's not as binary a solution as it looks at first glance.

[Lizzie]

It's always a bit annoying when you see:

>l e
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall figure in a blue cloak is here.
The thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The tall and thick figure in a blue cloak is here.
The short figure in a blue cloak is here.

The doofy guy steadies themselves and takes aim...

The doofy guy unerringly shoots the right person in the middle of all those cloaked riders.

Then again, a cloak is a cloak is a cloak, hard to tell whether they've got a facewrap on, or the same armor they usually wear, etc, etc. If they always wear hot pink leggings, you're gonna know it's them (or think it's them) regardless of whether they've got their hood up. So it's not as binary a solution as it looks at first glance.

Pretty easy actually. From the other room, you would know about Malik:

If Malkin is NOT playing him, Malik does NOT have shoulder-length impossibly gorgeous shiny wavy curly hair.
No matter who is playing Malik, the figure known as Malik does NOT have long red tresses that tumble in a tousle down to his ass, or blonde (with an e) hair of any kind, or tresses of any kind.

If it is Talia, she probably has tresses, or tousled hair, or long hair down to her ass. At least all the Talia's I've wanted to aim an arrow at have had one or the other.

[BadSkeelz]

I don't believe you can target someone by name via archery or throw.

[evilcabbage]

wanna bet?

twelve cabbagebucks says you can.

i'll eat my foot if i'm wrong.

[BadSkeelz]

It's what I've heard, and various IG practices seem to support the notion.

I've never shot a PC with a bow so can't vouch personally.

[Synthesis]

I don't like the idea, because sometimes you wanna run around like:



The whole targeting discussion is an aside.

[Hauwke]

I dont think I have ever started a pc on pc fight to the death so take that BadSkeelz!

Derail aside, I think this both adds and detracts, it means realism, but at the same time it means you cant see what they even vaguely look like and poor dwarves and Half Giants will see the exact same thing for everyone. The tall thin figure and Ive never played a HG but I guess they see something like the tiny thin figure or whatever I guess.

[whitt]

The doofy guy unerringly shoots the right person in the middle of all those cloaked riders.

This -so- much this.

Especially from two rooms away.

I would totally support the inability to target using any non-visible keyword from more than one room away and hitting a random target if you fire into melee from even one room away.

[Armaddict]

In response to the original idea:
Don't see why not.  Most people tend to raise hoods out there anyway...anonymity in the sands has been preserved despite lower instances of raiding, as far as I can tell, and I'm a pretty big fan of being able to keep identities a little harder to discern.

In response to keywords:
Unless it's been changed relatively recently, you can use addedkeywords and names for ranged attacks.

The doofy guy unerringly shoots the right person in the middle of all those cloaked riders.

This -so- much this.

Especially from two rooms away.

I would totally support the inability to target using any non-visible keyword from more than one room away and hitting a random target if you fire into melee from even one room away.

I mostly agree.  I'd like to see an option to hit 'random' people in a room too.  "Just shoot someone, dammit!"
I do somewhat like to see the ability for very skilled archers to continue to fire into combat.  Despite it being a melee, I envision a lot of gaps and moments where people are standing relatively alone...and very skilled archers can hit that shot given a few cords of space to either side.  So while the random chance to hit whoever they're in combat with is desirable, I also maintain that increasing the archery skill should lower that chance pretty dramatically.

Just so that people keep doing it with confidence until that one time where they kill their buddy fighting a carru because they shoot him in the head by accident.  That's the true 'Is it worth it?' question.  Heh.

[evilcabbage]

In response to the original idea:
Don't see why not.  Most people tend to raise hoods out there anyway...anonymity in the sands has been preserved despite lower instances of raiding, as far as I can tell, and I'm a pretty big fan of being able to keep identities a little harder to discern.

In response to keywords:
Unless it's been changed relatively recently, you can use addedkeywords and names for ranged attacks.

The doofy guy unerringly shoots the right person in the middle of all those cloaked riders.

This -so- much this.

Especially from two rooms away.

I would totally support the inability to target using any non-visible keyword from more than one room away and hitting a random target if you fire into melee from even one room away.

I mostly agree.  I'd like to see an option to hit 'random' people in a room too.  "Just shoot someone, dammit!"
I do somewhat like to see the ability for very skilled archers to continue to fire into combat.  Despite it being a melee, I envision a lot of gaps and moments where people are standing relatively alone...and very skilled archers can hit that shot given a few cords of space to either side.  So while the random chance to hit whoever they're in combat with is desirable, I also maintain that increasing the archery skill should lower that chance pretty dramatically.

Just so that people keep doing it with confidence until that one time where they kill their buddy fighting a carru because they shoot him in the head by accident.  That's the true 'Is it worth it?' question.  Heh.

do i get his loot? because if so, worth it.

unless the carru turns its demon fangs on me and rips me in half, then not worth it.


i love this idea. it reeks of atonement, where gunfire into melee was very risk and all us familiar gunmen sprayed into a fight... and erm...

lodged about twenty bullets into friendlies LOL!